This week: EDGE Markets courts $29.2M for payment rails

Also: BettingStartups Capital fields founders’ questions during an AMA, and WagerWire’s plans to develop a prediction market platform on the back of its pending Gibraltar license.

June 11, 2026

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EDGE Markets courts $29.2M for betting, prediction market payment rails

The news: EDGE Markets has closed a $29.2M Series A led by CoinFund, with participation from Indicator Ventures, Mantis VC, Stepstone Group, and Bullpen Capital. The New York-based company is using the capital to launch two new products: EDGE Pro, a banking platform for market makers trading on CFTC-regulated prediction market exchanges, and EDGE Connect, a payment rail built specifically for gaming and prediction market operators.

Zoom in: EDGE Pro targets institutional friction—specifically the requirement that trading accounts be pre-funded and fully collateralized. The product is designed to enable post-execution settlement across multiple liquidity pools and allow users to plug in margin from third-party prime brokerages, pending NFA registrations as an Introducing Broker and Futures Commission Merchant. EDGE Connect, meanwhile, goes after the operator side—back-testing with major operators showed payment processing cost reductions north of 70%, and the product supports real-time payments around the clock with no integration required.

Why it matters: EDGE's original product, EDGE Boost, has processed over $2B in transactions since launching a year ago, according to the company. EDGE Markets isn't pitching infrastructure speculatively; it already has volume and operator relationships to build from. As institutional capital moves into prediction markets in earnest, the settlement and payment layer becomes critical plumbing that EDGE Market wants to own.

BettingStartups Capital on what makes them write a check—and what sends them away

The news: Three months into BettingStartups Capital, Jesse Learmonth and Paris Smith took live questions from founders during a Defy the Odds Office Hours session—covering due diligence, AI, founder qualities, and where they think the market is getting ahead of itself. The fund writes $100K–$250K checks into early-stage companies across sports betting, iGaming, and B2B infrastructure. At the time of the session, they'd reviewed close to 100 deals and closed five.

Zoom in: At the earliest stage, the pair said they're evaluating founders, not businesses—when there's no revenue or KPIs to analyze. The framework they apply centers on four traits borrowed from Smith's Pinnacle-era hiring philosophy: hungry, humble, smart, and passionate. On prediction markets specifically, Learmonth flagged two concerns: valuations he described as disconnected from market reality, and legal uncertainty around whether sport event contracts in the U.S. are here to stay—"it is not settled science," he said.

Why it matters: BettingStartups Capital is an early-stage fund inside a small industry, which means the people writing the checks are often just a few calls away from the operators and partners founders are name-dropping in their decks. That dynamic gives the fund real reference leverage—and makes reputation matter more than it might elsewhere. The prediction market skepticism is also worth noting: when one of the more active early-stage funds in the space is flagging valuation bubbles and legal risk, founders in that category should be paying attention.

More of founders’ burning questions, and our thoughts on them, in the full story.

WagerWire receives approval in principle from Gibraltar for prediction market platform

The news: WagerWire has received approval in principle from Gibraltar for Wire Markets Ltd., its prediction market subsidiary, putting the LA-based company on track to become the second operator licensed under Gibraltar's prediction market framework. The initial rollout is targeted for the start of the 2026 NFL season and “major international soccer leagues.” This is an approval in principle—not a license in hand—meaning the company still needs to complete Gibraltar's full due diligence and regulatory process.

Zoom in: Wire Markets is a standalone prediction market platform—distinct from WagerWire's existing secondary marketplace product for sportsbook bets—with the ability to create its own markets while also tapping into global liquidity from platforms like Polymarket, the company tells us. While sports is the initial focus, the company says it will expand to offer a wide range of markets.

Why it matters: Prediction markets are gaining regulatory traction globally, and jurisdiction selection is becoming a meaningful strategic decision. Gibraltar's framework is established and portable, WagerWire says, and serves as a practical foundation for international expansion. 

News, money, and alpha 🗞️

Great gigs 💼

Big opportunities with awesome growth-stage companies, brought to you by BettingJobs.

  • 🆕 Fluid is looking for a Business Development Manager to book 2–3 qualified iGaming operator demos per week and own the operator relationship through close. Remote (Europe). (View job)

  • Outlier is hiring a Product Marketing Manager to own positioning, GTM strategy, and product launches for a subscription-based sports betting analytics platform. Remote (USA). (View job)

  • Novig is looking for a Product Designer to shape the core experience of its sports prediction market—from concepting new features to shipping polished interfaces — in its Union Square, NYC office. (View job)

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